YMMV / Lupe Fiasco

• Awesome Music: SO...MANY...SONGS...:
  • "Kick, Push" is about the escapism of a skater and crew. "Kick, Push II" is about the group, but it details why they need the romantic getaway from the hell that is their lives.
  • "Daydreamin'", "Words I Never Said", "The Emperor's Soundtrack", "Happy Industries", "Streets On Fire", "Twilight Zone", "Spray Paint and Ink Pens", "The Pens and the Needles", even "The Show Goes On"...if you were to list every single A+ song the guy has made, this page would be extremely long. Because while he only has 3 albums out...he has many, many mixtapes with many, many great songs, notably the Fahrenheit 1/15 trilogy.
  • "The Instrumental". This song is laced with Genius Bonus. Lupe even gave a analysis of it.
  • Consider the fact that Atlantic Records literally forced it on him to get the album out, and the significance to his own being of what he insistently turned it into, "The Show Goes On" definitely qualifies.
  • "It's Not Design", so good that Capcom decided to use it as the Background Music for the reveal trailer of Kolin in Street Fighter V.
• Death of the Author: According to his own analysis "The Instrumental" is partly about this (specifically the fact the two characters have their voices removed and doctors taking notes are representative of the audience having their own ideas).
• Fan Community Nickname: As of his third album, Lasers.
• Fandom Rivalry: With Kendrick Lamar's fanbase, especially since Lupe has thrown Take Thats at Kendrick in his SLR songs. Kendrick fans also love to poke fun at the fact Kendrick beaten Lupe with the release of DAMN. getting a Pulitzer whereas Lupe continues boasting but not getting there. It is worth noting that Lupe's opinion on Kendrick is actually fairly good-natured — Lupe is confident enough to claim that he's a better lyricist than Kendrick, but that not only is Kendrick is by no means a bad one, he's the superior "artist" of the two.
• Genius Bonus: Who would have thought that listening to a song requires you to have knowledge of Quantum Mechanics and the Theory of Relativity?
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Consider the subject matter of "The Cool" and then look at his publisher/artist relationship.
  • With the debacle surrounding Lasers, it's kinda hard to listen to "Dumb it Down".
• Heartwarming Moments: "And that's why she skates with he, someone to fill the pain and a place to be."
  • "I would give up everything, even start a world war, for these ghetto girls and boys I'm rappin' round the world for."
• Tear Jerker: "Kick Push II" again, as well as "Fighters".
  • What anyone's heard of "Beautiful Lasers" so far.
  • Although it's a positive song, his brand new "The Show Goes On" is a Tear Jerker for multiple reasons, including that it's the single to an album that he and his fans had been waiting/fighting for since three years.
  • "Words I Never Said" is intense, but has hope in it despite all the darkness in it.
  I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence
  Fear is such a weak emotion thats why I despise it
  We scared of almost everything, afraid to even tell the truth
  So scared of what you think of me, I’m scared of even telling you
  Sometimes I’m like the only person I feel safe to tell it to
  I’m locked inside a cell in me, I know that there’s a jail in you
  Consider this your bailing out, so take a breath, inhale a few
  My screams is finally getting free, my thoughts is finally yelling through
• Tough Act to Follow: DROGAS Light, especially compared to Tetsuo and Youth.